Thursday, May 11, 2017

Storgren
is a melodic black metal band from Geneva, Switzerland, and ''Singularity'' is
a 10 track LP that was released in May of 2016th via Non Serviam Records.

Dark tremolos in vain of Dissection are overwhelming and swarming this fine piece of album. Melodies are
tastefully combined with thrashy riffs, sometimes followed by a blast beat, sometimes
by simple drumming ''ace''. Some riffing passages can even be related to
Dismember or even early In Flames. Scream vocals are great, combined with a
harsh growls. Melancholic solo tunes
alternate with obscure tremolos. The album is full of potent arpeggios, like the
ones that start ''Acosmic Ascendant''. Modern riff on the third song ''Crimson
Death'' where bass pedal riff follows its twitch is later confronted with
riffs in the manner of Goetenburg death metal, and in ''Never ending
singularity'' we hear a doomy recitation in order to inject the completely Swedish death riff. ''Aurora'' begins in melancholic tone and with BM riffs, and its tremolo
melodies lead us to simple and beautiful solo. ''Black Moon siluette'' begins with
striking melody that leads to the dark clean decomposition, and vocals shift from whisper to frantic screams. The
beautiful passages of acoustic guitar are common, like the ones that open up
this fine album on ''Enlighten Salvation'', later joined by interwoven doom
melodies. ''Elegy'', an instrumental with chords and their decompositions on acoustic guitar slowly progressing, and their evolution reminds me of atmosphere of earlier Opeth's works. Acoustic guitars are heard on breaks, like in ''Omega rising'', a
song with beautiful dark solo melody alternates with potent arpeggios. Break in
''Aurora'' also brings quite relaxing part on clean guitars, ending the song, and dark
chord decomposition on ''Nightside of Eden'' is pretty obscure, and beautiful passage on an acoustic guitar is joined by whisper in the end of ''Vertigo'', which is started with a potent dark tremolo.

Monday, April 24, 2017

Suffer Yourself is a funeral doom metal band and it was initially formed in Poland
in 2011. Later they've moved to Ukraine and finally to Sweden. ''Ectoplasm'' is
LP which was released in 2016 as a co/release of Satanath Records, More Hate
Productions and Cimerian Shade
Recordings.

Collosal dark tones are overlaid with melancholic doom melodies,
all entangled with gloomy keyboards and clean guitars that evoke the best
moments of Evoken. Dreadful doom/death metal, with songs which are constantly
evolving with fresh parts, not allowing a moment of monotony. This album is
filled with excellent deep growls, distressful recitations and eerie and stinging
DSBM screams, creating leaden and dense atmosphere of imminent doom.

Vocal
arrangement at the beginning of the first song, ''Ectoplasm'' brings hurtful screams entwined with growls, followed by obscure slow riffs and bringing back the atmosphere first Wormphlegm. There is a
gorgeous slow crushing riff somewhere around the 3rd minute, born in pain from the
break with mournful melody that's crawling out of it. That's the first among
many on this album, a riff which withers and scars everything in front of it
with its massive energy, soon to be joined by severed and slashed opera/like
female vocal effects, extended with deep church/like recitals.

''Abyssmal Emptyness'' is beginning with strong vibe of Morgion. It has
creeping melodies followed by whispers, and clean guitar parts followed by
growls. Haunting melodies constantly intertwine with crushing riffs which are sometimes
followed by growls which turn to DSBM screams, like somewhere around the fifth
minute. There is a break afterwards with sound like a gramophone giving birth
to poignant melodies. Keyboard melody somewhere on 7 and half minutes really got stuck in my mind. Break afterwards brings ua blast/beat that draws on early MDB.

''The Core'' is beginning with clean guitars and all previously
mentioned parts, and at some point crushing riff is followed by the sound of a
sonar,intensified later with sorrowful melody. There's an interesting break
with cranking door, and in the end we hear a female/voiced recital.

''Dead Visions'' begins with a riff that moves slowly like a river of lava, joined by the echoing solo melody. There's a lightweight and atmospheric
part with clean guitars that 's caressing like a spring wind, followed by
whispers, and the atmospheric riffs afterwards are followed by a melancholic
melodies and recitals and disheveled growls and screams on clean-guitar parts.
Recital in Russian sounds pretty harsh, shifting at slow pace, intensified at
the end, joined by creeping melodies.
Ghostlike female cries really gave me chill, followed by evolving gothic
keyboards and chorals. Sounds of echoing bells end this song.

''Transcend The Void'' is a great way to end this masterpiece,
with a spectral recital in the background of creepy guitar sounds that
constantly emerge from it.

By my humble opinion, this is one of the best doom releases in 2016 for sure, recommended
for fans of Abstract Spirit, Evoken, Morgion, Swallow the Sun.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Cerebral
Extinction is a Brutal Death Metal band from Italy formed in the year of 2013,
and ''Necro Parasyte Anomaly'' is their second full length album. It shall be
released by the Japanese label Amputated Vein Records on the 5th of May.

''Induced Transition'' opens up the jaws of this monstrous LP with bestial disharmones, followed by a sharp
growl vocals that are sometimes deep grunts, sometimes sounding like Glen Benton,
sometimes periodically replaced or racing with scream vocals, like in the beginning
of ''Necro Parasite Anomaly''. Barking scream vocals somewhere in the mid of ''Collision Identity'' lead us into
slamming groove riff, and at the end of
''Face to Face'' singer sounds inhuman as demonic beast-like roaring maniacally
evolves into screams that end the song.

Melodic
riff that ends ''Logic and Conspiracy'' is quite striking, as well as the end
of ''Nemesis The City Of Madness (Part I)'', which ends with melodic
tremolo in the manner of Deeds Of Flesh. In the 'Nemesis The City Of Madness
(Part II)'' , at one point a monolithic slow riff is formed, and later tremolo
melodies feel like a rollercoaster ride through the halls of insanity. ''The
End of All Worlds'' has a striking slower riff, ''Obscure portal'' has a crushing
massive riff too, and in '' Necro Parasite Anomaly'' and ''Face to Face'' grinding
riffs is intertwined with tremolo melodies, bursting one from another.

Hereza is a band from Beli Manastir, Croatia, founded in
2014 and ''I become death'' is their second full length album, released on 13 of February, 2017 via Godz ov War
Productions.

Title song, ''I become death'' begins with Oppenheimer's
famous quote of Shiva from Bhagavad Gita, "Now I am become
Death, the destroyer of worlds." It perfectly suits this album. The
Openheimer is known as the father of nuclear weapons, the man behind the Manhattan
Project and the creation of the atomic bomb, and this LP is just like nuclear
bomb - extremely fast, efficient and absolutely devastating. Incredible
whipping power of these guys amazed me. In the first, above mentioned song we have
a striking tremolo melody that stays stuck in mind. Tremolos are constantly
intersected with amazing groove, death, thrash and HC passages, not allowing
monotony. Growl vocals are deep and sharp, reminding me of Brutality, usually
paired up with the roars, especially on a chaotic chorus on the first song and
''Unisti Pali Ruši'', while ''Jebem vas u usta 'ladna'' has mighty twin growl
vocals on the chorus, crushing everything in their way with the most powerful
impact. Solo melody that is joined in one segment is great, and ''Homo Homini
Lupus Est'' solo passage that swirls with the chorus leaves a strong impression. ''In
the Name of God '' has a nice solo that leads to Black Metal inferno, ending
the song, and the dark and obscure solo on ''Tombcrawler'' has gloomy oriental
overtones. Hereza sometimes sounds like a Swedish old school death, but on
steroids, and it is most noticeable in the ''Full Moon Slaughter'', a song that
has incredible vibe of Dismember, especially with beautiful terzas in the
chorus. ''Torn from the death's bed'' begins with groove of potent HC riff, ''Uništi
Pali Rusi'' starts with military command for
attack. Thrash riff in this song leaves no one indifferent. Above
mentioned ''Tombcrawler'' begins with sound of waves and dark sinister chord
decomposition on clean guitar and this song is a great ending to an excellent
album.

Furious, energetic and devastating blackened crust is tastefully combined
with thrashing death elements, not allowing even a second of rest. Like
we say in our language, ''Ko preživi, pričaće''.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Scath Na Déithe is a band from Dublin, Ireland, founded by Cathal
Hughes and Stephen Todd. ''Pledge Nothing But Flesh'' is their first full
length album independently published 13 January 2017, which will be released in
cassette format for Metal Defiance Productions.

''Sí Gaoithe'' is ghostly and eerie instrumental, which
introduces us to a quite atmospheric metal release, characterized by poetic and
nihilistic lyrics, guitars in a lower tuning, beautiful and somehow melancholic
ethereal tremolo passages. Songs are extended, with the drum arrangement that's
changing from fast ''aces'' and blast beats to slow and heavy doom metal-vibed courses.
The listener is lost in dense fog of atmospheric features that constantly give birth to remarkable
and epic tremolo melodies. Vocal is resounding and quite striking growl combined
with scream, and its directness is a great contrast to the mystifying arrangement of
guitar passages, growing one from another like hydra heads. The band sounds
like a clash of Fen and Ruins Of
Beverast, having unique and original sound.

Prominent tremolo melodies followed by smooth doom
drum rhythm begin my favorite track, ''Bloodless'', staying stuck in the
memory. A melody somewhere after the third minute is personally the most
beautiful moment of the album. Old school Death metal tremolo like the ones in
the second half of ''This Unrecognized Desease '' and the death doom tunes in
the first half ''Search Unending'' are great way to avoid monotony of decomposing
chords and long atmo-trem passages. The motif in '' The Shackled Mind '' reminded me of the early death metal period of Darkthrone.
Both ''Search Unending'' and '' The Shackled Mind '' end with stunning
atmospheric passages on clean / acoustic guitars, and '' At Marbh Fáilte'' is a
beautiful instrumental where the acoustic guitar is accompanied by eerie
keyboards.'' The Shackled Mind'' ends with slow chords with the
howling wind in the background, similar to the way the album was started through intro.

Being one of the most exciting bands of 2015, MINDFUL OF PRIPYAT have released their debut self-released EP on
January the 6th the same year, entitled ‘’…and
Deeper I Drown in Doom’’. I saw the EP instantly online, and started
blasting it, and I instantly fell in love with it. The aggression, the power,
the raw force this Italian band has is simply incredible. Their EP consisted of
16 tracks, and now they’re back, after 2 years of silence, with a brand new
split entitled ‘’New Doomsday
Orchestration’’, released via Everlasting
Spew Records, on March 1’st, 2017. The split contains 27 tracks, 18 done by
STENCH OF PROFIT, and 9 done by MINDFUL OF PRIPYAT. The constantly
radiation and death inspired band never ceases to impress me with their
brilliant lyrical themes, and the new one is just about the same on my excitement
level. The EP sounds brutally aggressive, much better than their previous
material, which did sound pretty aggressive, too, but this is something
completely different. I can feel that the signing to this label did only good
to them. The first side of the EP where the previously mentioned band is, is
more of a raw, brutal, and nasty grind core/death metal oriented side, while
the other side is more of a crust, punk, and a bit metal influenced side. If
you’re a fan of NASUM, PHOBIA, or ASSÜCK, give both of these bands a well worth spin on their newest
split, and support the shit out of them!

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Nazghor
is a band from Sweden founded in 2012, and ''Death's withered chants'' is their
fifth full length album. Beautiful melodies submerged in dense and obscurely
melancholic atmosphere of this band are impressive. The album was released via Satanath Records in 2016.

''Hymnum Mortis'' is an intro with organs magically intertwined with female
voice, like a gate to the storm of beautiful and melodic tremolo melodies,
characterizing each song and making them easily memorable. A variety of
motives is noted, ranging from the gloomy chord decompositions, slow black metal riffs that
are alternating and shifting with with the faster ones, and all of it is decorated
with discreet smoothness of keyboards, ranging from organs that I've mentioned, strings, piano,
choirs, and even harpsichord in the background of a doom riff in '' Death's withered chants ''. The song is having the
Summoning-like atmosphere, and clean vocals mixed with chanting in the background
leave a great impression. It ends with the sound of heartbeats,
beating weaker and just stopping, leaving an eerie silence completing the
album. Excellent motive of which really gave me chills. Thrash riff in the
middle of the ''Requiem black mass'' is a great way to avoid the monotony of
repeating the previous parts of the tremolo based arrangements, and the ''
Empire of graves' also has excellent
thrash riff, born isolated in a sudden break ''Under a venomous Spell''
begins with smooth soloing on clean guitars, and ''Complete unholiness '' has
a clean guitar part, from which the solo twirls like a flame. ''Inheritance of
the cross'' has an intro taken from some movie, introducing us to the
Khold-like crushing mid tempo riff. '' Aeternum Regno Diaboli'' is an instrumental
based on melancholic piano melody giving birth to dreadful sounds that sound like awakening an
ancient demonic creature.

Recommended
for fans of Angantyr, Sorhin and some DSBM bands that craft and nourish epic, majestic and most memorable melodies.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Oracle is a melodic black death band from Alabama, United
States. The band was created in 2016 and '' Beyond Omega'' is their first
release. The album was self-released.

Churning arpeggio themes are being born from epic keyboards that
start '' Aeons of Madness '', and Lovecraft's famous quote may be heard. ''There Will Be Blood '' and ''The cleansing'' begin
aggressively and ''Beyond Omega'' begins with shifting echoing motif. ''Tomb of Serpents '' starts with chord
decomposition on clean guitar, and, finally, ''Blood stained Epitaph ''
begins with a growling recitation, with keyboards as its backround. But they all tend to lead to the
memorable groove of crushing modern middle tempo riffs. The vocals are mostly harsh growls,
going deep if required. Solos are beautiful. For example, ''By the hand of
Astrea '' has two solos, with the other one being longer and more intense. ''Tomb
of Serpents'' has got the rhythmic riff reminding me of slow groove of Immortal's
''Beyond the North Waves''. The chorus of ''The cleansing'' is a black metal inferno, and
somewhere in the middle of the song really amazing thrash riff that got me
nodding like insane in its rhythm. The chorus of the song is both epic and
somehow melancholic. The song ends with guitar arpeggios (similar to the
guitars first introduction on the first song), which leave room for the main keyboard
tune, carried gently with the sound of the freezing wind. Beautiful ending passage that
got me shudder.

''Beyond Omega'' is abounded with groovy death riffs,
swirling black-death tremolos and beautiful keyboard passages in their
background, creating the majestic epic atmosphere. Highly recommended for the
fans of Ex Deo, Gloria Morti and Fleshgod Apocalypse.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Sickrites is the band from Russia and their release ''
Irrelevant Megaliths Death '' was published in 2013 under the label Cryptic
Arts Records (on Vynil), and in the form of CD for Osmose Records in 2014.

One of the most unique death metal bands in every sense,
especially because of extremely unique and original implementation creepy
keyboards on the gloomiest death metal background, which create exceptionaly
obscure and both leaden-heavy and ethereal atmosphere. The album is embroidered
with spooky echoed vocals and keyboards,
like a mist of spectres hovering over certain segments, never being monotonous
and always in a different manner. The dark and isolated tremolo theme in deeper
scale which begins '' Pillars Of The Fallen Light "opens the gate to chaos
in its purest form, with furious whipping drums, demonic screaming guitar
squeals, and extremely massive and deep growl vocals from the deepest cosmic
catacombs that are crushing everything in their way. ''Procession to Belial ''
begins a spellbinding keyboard intro, '' Deathstorms '' has a dramatic and
apocalyptic motif, and melting and enchanting string shades on '' Pillars Of
The Fallen Light '' are absolutely mesmerizing. '' The Dweller In The Fleshtombs
'' in its own turn begins with unusual and almost electro sci-fi motif, while
impressive and creepy keyboard theme in the background of slower riff on ''
Necrogenesis Void '' brings atmosphere of the purest cosmic horror. '' The
Temple '' with dark motives has
implemented Bells that echo eerily, and that motive ends the next track, '' New
World Hosanna '. '' The Rite'' begins with mantra that sounds absolutely
shaman, and implemented Jaw's Harp sounds (a lot of Russian bands like Jassa use it too) give the quite Siberian charm .

Solos on most songs are schizoid screams of tortured guitar
squeals, sometimes accelerating in Azagthoth-like fast or weeping passages. As
for the riffs, slow doomy riffs with sneaking ghostly keyboards are constantly
alternating with rapid tremolos. The songs arrangements are constantly evolving, not
allowing even a moment of monotony. Tremolo passages are generally played with open-string
principle, with occasional palm-muted riff segments, such as thrashy jerk
somewhere in the middle of '' Procession to Belial '. '' Moloch Ascending ''
begins with melodic and somehow epic BM tremolo, and '' Darkness Tremendous ''
also has a beautiful melodious tremolo too.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Tremendously obscure chord decomposition emerges from
confusing '' sci-fi '' noise, joined by a slow drum beat as the background and
it is the intro to this solid crust-black edition. Slower parts are constantly
alternating with fast and harsh ones, not allowing a moment of boredom. This stone-solid
and whipping Italian Crust-Black EP has been self released.

'' No Hope '' begins with massive slower riff, which
spontaneously evolves, gets faster with howling vocals that keep whipping and grind-like
scream vocals in the 2nd round of vocal arrangement. ''The reaction will never
come'' begins with black metal tremolo riff, and the motif of vocals shifting from yelling to
screams rather easily is also notable. '' You are nothing '' begins quickly and
aggressively. Break with isolated bass guitar leads us to the formation of concrete-hard HC riff. ''
Rejection of life '' begins with empowering and lifting drum section, having some
interesting tremolo riffs entwined with chord decompositions. '' Godess '' is the
outro, with a similar interpretation as the beginning of EP, isolated
decomposition which spontaneously starts
to be followed by the drum, turning more
aggressive and having a lovable chorus.

Naga
is a black doom metal trio from Naples, Italy, and 'Inanimate' ' is their EP from
2016. Originally released only on vinul via Lay Bare Recordings from
Netherlands, it's being re-released in CD format via the Italian label
Everlasting Spew Records. In addition to four original songs, the track '' Worm
'' (recorded in 2017) has been added, exclusively for CD edition.

''
Inanimate '' is dark and leadden-heavy release, characterized by extremely
harsh, razor sharp guitar distortion sound being combined with also sharp howling
vocals that perfectly fit to the background.

Monolithic
riffs are combined with obscure black metal decompositions, whipped by furious scream
that carries us like typhoon wind to a striking and quite obscure chorus parts,
that almost sound like bellowing mantras.

''Thrives''
has black metal distorted decompositions entwined like thorns upon crushing
several-tonned riffs. Black Sabbath-like riff in the middle of song, is sounding
like Electric Wizard in black metal edition. '' Hzele '' is filled with innovative
tremolos, melancholic and atmospheric at the same time, sounding simultaneously
horrifying and sad. Intensification of all the choruses is amazing, outburst of
sincere despair, nihilistic rage and aggression, especially on the 2nd track. ''
TMWR '' is cover of Fang's'' The Money Will Roll Right In '' from 1983, and in
its chorus we can hear singing, screaming, yelling and shouting atr the same time, all entwined
in a outstanding level. '' Loner '' is sounding
as a much darker Kyuss, with nailing snare and relentless vocals and wild and
unrestrained chorus. '' Worm '' is an exclusive new track added to the 4 songs of
the previous vinyl editions, beginning with chord decompositions on clean
guitars that slowly evolve, with a dark black metal-rock'n'roll background for
vocals. Each song (but the last one) is ended with the sonic attacks, screams of
guitar-distortion echoing and lingering like a darkest shadow of despair until the next
song is started.

Realy
great realease, monolithic outburst of agony, rage and despair.The CD shall be released on 23rd of March 2017.

Monday, February 27, 2017

With riffs
that are a mix of Crowbar's massiveness and melodious Swallow the Sun parts,
with breaks often brings to life beautiful Isis-like clean guitar parts, with
the deep clean vocals often increasing in intensity as the song progresses, Nula
is a solid sludge band from Belgrade that have released their EP for Black
Bow Records on 24th of February. Deep riffs are tastefully combined with vocals gently swifting from
clean to a kind of shrieking grunge-like yelling, moving from harsh Neurosis like
singing to HC rapping (yet singing) diction like Biohazard.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

I haven't heard any band breaking the widely spread dogma of
the women inability to cope with something that is mostly considered as male
dominated music for a long time. But
some girls can even dominate the spheres of '' male '' metal, and even elevate
above the majority of their male counterparts. Jenner is the living proof, and
their LP '' To Live Is To Suffer '' is available through the French
record label Inferno Records.

The mixing production of this album is in accordance with
world standards, a modern approach offers refreshment to Thrash Speed ​​genre
that is mainly based on the replication of the eighties. The vocals are great, especially due to the fact that,
personally, I'm not the greatest fan of
Heavy Metal and high pitched vocals in general, but when I hear the these girls'
performance, I literally shudder. Not to mention the banal fact that no member
of the male sex can not remain indifferent to the sexy appeal and the striking
contrast of the pleasantly moaning and soft vocals' tone against the fast,
technically perfect harsh metal background. The first time I've heard vocals in
''Factory Of Death'' I had a feeling that I'm listening to women version of
Heathen. Especially beautiful and delicate are the occasional minor accessories
of terzas on vocals, which are simply playing with the intensity of stanzas.
Furious, yet melodic singing just spills like a spring of youthful energy upon strong
thrash riffs scorching everything in their path, building a strong and
concrete-solid arrangement of material.

Songs are abundant with the occasional breaks which I simply
adore. They give birth to crushing and thrashing aggressive riffs, as well as
to groovy rhythmic ones, shifting the rhythms and not allowing even a speck of
monotony. In the epic and heavy riffed
chorus of ''Hear The Thunder Roar'', we can also see women gang vocals as a
presentation of crude female energy. Backing aggressive vocals that ask '' How
deep is your greed? '' like a mantra in self titled song serve as ingenious wall
of additional musical and rhythmic background. The mere beginning of the song
somehow exudes atmosphere of Testament. The choruses like the one in '' The
Heat Is Coming Again '' are beautiful
and memorable, with a solo melody that mimics the melody of chorus itself. ''
Demons Call '' has an extremely seductive and ethereal chorus and the song is
ending with vocals that slowly fade and mystically disappear into fade-out. in
the song entitled '' On The Judgement Day '' solo is alternating with vocals, excellent
and refreshing motive that ends this song. '' Silent Killer '' has a strong
Pantera-vibe riff with guitar squeals mid of the song, and in ''Opened (On The Table)'' In the middle of the song we can hear some Destruction vibes. All of
that is fused in unique and quite elegant feminine way. The beautiful and
surreal dark '' squealing'' part ending the song is an hidden ace up the sleeve. The vocals slowly ascend, ending the album with their culmination.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Hell's Coronation is a Polish ''Necro Ritual Black Doom Metal'',
consisted of Zepar (guitars, vocals) and Coffincrusher (bass, drums, backing
vocals). Their EP '' Antichristian Devotion '' shall be released on 20th of March 2017 in MC/Digital format through Godz Ov War Productions.

Spooky intro, with haunting female vocal, choir/uttered mantra,
female screams, with sudden shocking beats and effects are truly horryfic. Massive riffs slowly
begin their accursed dance in the mid-tempo, as a ghost and a sharp scream echoes,
chanting the nihilistic and misanthropic lyrics in background of obscure crushing grooves, and one can feel like galloping through the frost-bitten wastelands of lifeless forests. There are no major rhythm changes in songs, riffs are plain and
simple yet effective, just like the cover art itself. In one segment of the second song '' Worm Circulates In Me '',
one can hear bells ghostly echoing in the backround of a riff, really giving
the unique atmosphere. Afterwards, we're witnessing the birth of a beautiful
solo melody, a motive which is to be found no more in other songs. '' Tormentor of cross worship '' begins with
sound of waves, with something like an echo of a horn in a background,
announcing entrance to the song.
Excellent rhythm carries the listener, and most the of riffs reminds me of lava that is
slowly oozing down the slope, burning everything in its path. the album is
finishing. There's an interesting break with howling of wolves in the
background. The last song is finished
with cawing ravens, as they slowly disappear.

Those who are favoured to slow and powerful black metal riffs
like those of Khold, Drudkh and Judas Iscariot shall certainly enjoy this cold and obscure EP.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Acheronte is war black metal band from Italy. Their LP has been released by Satanath Records last year.

All of the seven songs are true battle hymns, lyrically based on furious warlords. First song depicts Assyrian warrior spirit, guiding us through the sphynx guarded triumph gate to
uncompromising and truly energetic black metal. Songs are victorious odes to Alexander the Great, Diocletian. Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan. Vlad Tepesh, and the last one is inspired by the
ancient Aztec ruler.

Scream vocals that mostly reminded me of Inquisition are constantly intersected with
growl vocals, thus giving the songs an extra dynamics. Striking sharpness of distortion
is also fundamentally noticeable, acting like a conquering sword through the flesh of enemies. Uncompromising and
pure savage war power riffs reminded me to those of Marduk and Infernal War, with their raw
energy and aggressive and striking effect. Release has generally retained much of its original distortion rawness in their final mix.

Demonic
Obedience is the solo project of George Ntavelas, risen from the ashes of
Deceptive Incarnation from Greece.

Sinister
chord decomposition on clean guitar is emerging from the void, introducing us
to an aggressive start One can
almost instantly notice a deep growl, occasionally accompanied by discreet and
hushed demonic scream vocals (I am really amazed with their strength range in
mixing, it has created chilling effects). The songs are like amorphous monster
that constantly changes shape. The rhythms are constantly changing, not
allowing the monotony. Occational schizoid solos are crawling like asps through
the leaden core of songs,

''
Impermisible Irreverence Pt 1 '' stands out from the others characterized by
melodic beginning, which spontaneously grows into death metal slaughter, and
also I would point out the slow part before the solo on '' Nocturnal Imagery
'', where in one segment of a cycle something like a flute in oriental scale is
heard. However, the favorite song on the album is '' Gehenna '', especially
schizoid bass lines with discordant clean decomposition, isolated and followed
by aggressive drums as a contrast to dark smoothnes of background melody.
However, what impressed me the most is the way that the song ends, and with it the way the whole album ends. The most beautiful and overwhelming solo melody which got stuck in my mind, burning in the background
of slow doom riff and ghostly echoing to the nothingness of fade-out.

Extremely massive storm of death metal riffs, with very horrific, cold and gravely atmosphere.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Gaerea is a band from Rome, Italy. It was founded in 2016
and their self-titled EP was released in 2016 via Everlasting Spew Records. The
EP lasts exactly 27 minutes and 27 seconds, and I can not help but wonder if
there is a sinister and omnious background behind the number that's been rounded
that way, maybe even more mysterious then the faces of the band members.

Although we can say that the hoods and masks in black metal have become a real trend,
almost replacing the traditional corpse paint, overused by the bands from Mgla
to The Stone, I can sincerely say that I am more attracted by the
visual concept of Gaerea than to the two aforementioned bands, in many more
ways. Mysterious symbols that cover their hidden faces create some sort of
esoteric and mystical aura. Nihilistic lyrics deal with contemporary and always
current issues and archetypes, directing themselves as a sort of dialogue
towards the listener. Not too misty and unspecific like lyrics of Mgla, not too
saturated and overburdened with archaisms like the ones of The Stone, but
direct, with perfect balance and measure. This fact alone makes the band
somehow more receptive. Cover art is beautiful, but it's surface is hiding a lot of beautiful, dark and abstract art motifs in the booklet with lyrics.

Mystical, incoming keyboards give birth to a spawn of dark, swirling
tremolos and heavy, massive and monolithic riffs, alternating with modern black
metal tendencies in chord formations and decompositions . Riffs are spontaneous
at their evolving . Galloping mid tempo rhythms spontaneously transform into fast
ones, introducing us to new passages
with ease. Motives seamlessly alternate, as well as rhythms, building a solid
and strong arrangement of material.

There are lots of interesting parts. ''Final Call'' begins with
a mixture of dark riff and chord decomposition that evokes the spirit of Mayhem's
''Freezing Moon'', unleashing the stormy waves of devastating, dark tide, that keeps
throwing our lifeless bodies around and slamming those against the rocks. In ''Void
of numbness'', we have rock-solid mid tempo riffs, crushing everything in front
of them as well, and occational DSBM lurches, leading to a beautiful atmospheric, fading
tremolos. ''Through Time'' is a song where obscure mid tempo riff is followed
by almost HC rhythm at one segment, but the most beautiful part of the EP for
me is the striking melody formed in the end of this song. Italians are obviously gifted for making those catchy, memorable melodies, and this one has reminded me of the one from Forgotten
Tomb's ''Alone'', just carving their way into the mind. There are also a lot of
spoken parts and recitations (like reciting of a prayer in Latin in ''Pray To Your
False God''), emerging from the dense darkness of this EP, slightly exceeding
to the constant piercing and whipping of maniacal, sharp and pretty harsh screams, that are one of the
main ace features of this release.

Great, simply refreshing black metal, and I can not wait for
their next release.

Furious and truly grim black metal is born from the howls of
as furious and cold wind, that was taken as a short intro. Riffs and lyrics are
direct like a punch, scream vocal reminds me of those on Astaroth's ''Violent
Soundrack Martyrum'', which I adore. Razor sharp riffs, varying from dark melancholic
to darkly epic, clean-guitar parts, potent and dark tremolos and beautiful
melodies that are mixed and intertwined like arabesques are developing in a pretty
convincing tone. Here we have an aggressive, gloomy and fast melodies, and the
whole sinister atmosphere reminded me of Dark Funeral's. This band has all of black
metal features that I like, combined with style in their own way. We have riffs
which remind me of Anal Natraak, where we get the bass pedal following a guitar
hitch, and some fast tremolo melodies and some riffs' aggressiveness reminded
me of Marduk. Slow and dark Dissection-like chord decompositions are alternating with great thrashy riffs like
those on Dimmu Borgir's ''Puritanical Euphorical Misanthropia'', connected
through the solid build of demonic tremolos. The songs are excellent and they
develop swiftly, crowned with discrete solos made to perfectly fit into
nocturnal spirit of the songs.

So if you're into strong, powerful and extremely dark black
metal, I can definitely recommend this.

Monday, January 9, 2017

Zornheym is the band from Stockholm, Sweden, founded by a
man known under the alias Zorn, who has started the creation of Zornheym after
leaving his former band, acknowledged Devian, determined to make an extreme
metal symphony based on the horrors of the patients of a mental institution. We could say that horror themes in spheres of symphonic black metal are
nothing new, we might be used to them through the works of Carach Angren, but I
personally prefer bands like Zornheym, because I do not like too much
progression added to metal, which is one of the main characteristics of the
Dutch.

The whole album is made on the principle of King Diamond's,
who, as we know, makes albums converted into conceptual horror story, with each
song as a separate paragraph. Basically, the same idea is present on Zornheym's
debut, but with an interesting addition : their stories are made real through
additional comics, with each single having one. This is a review of two of their
singles, '' The Opposed '' and ''Silent God'', which are available on all the digital
platforms of the Dutch label Non Serviam Records. The singles were released as
the announcement of their full length album.

The mysterious creaking opens the first single that I've
heard, ''The Opposed'', like creaking of the sinister gate that leads us into truly
horrific atmosphere of this song. The song itself gives its painful birth to
strong rhythmic riffs, combined with a choral epic keyboards, with the whole hymnal
atmosphere sounding like Ex Deo playing some really good black metal. All this is
painting a picture of an apocalyptic black metal maelstrom in the minds of
tortured insane patients, and as you see the flashes of a battle scenes that
they lead with their nightmares and their inner demons, while their world
disappears in the all-devouring flames of madness. Tremolo motifs feel like a
ride, and the riffs where the bass pedal follows hitch are a lot Carach Angren
like, but made with Zornheym's own signature. The choral keyborad giving it a
dramatic, and intensified vibe, sometimes in the background. leaving space for
the birth of a beautiful solo melodies and tremolos. Solos are beautiful and
melodic. In the second single I've heard, ''Silent God'', sudden '' Oriental break
is brilliant, and the second break leads us to the pandaemonium of crying and
exhausted clean vocals that sound really creepy.